It appears that President Joe Biden may choose to commute his son Hunter Biden's sentence. 

This is because, according to the Associated Press, the Biden White House has refused to rule out the possibility of a commutation.

This all comes after Hunter Biden was recently found guilty, by a home-state Delaware jury, of lying about his drug addiction on a form that he filled out to obtain a firearm.

The big question is what his sentence is going to be, including whether he will get any prison time.

Pardon is out

The White House, in contrast to the possibility of a commutation, has ruled out the possibility that President Biden could pardon his son using the presidential pardon power.

Before the verdict, Politico reported, "President Joe Biden on Thursday ruled out the possibility of pardoning his son, Hunter Biden, if he is found guilty of illegally possessing a gun as the trial nears a verdict in Delaware."

Biden, during an interview, was asked two questions: whether he would pardon his son if found guilty and whether he would accept the outcome of the case. Biden answered yes to both.

Then, after the guilty verdict came in, Biden, once again, made it clear that he will not be pardoning his son.

"I am not going to do anything. I will abide by the jury’s decision," he said.

What about a commutation?

As part of the presidential pardon power, Biden could also commute his son's sentence, whatever it may be. Commutations, in contrast to pardons, typically reduce sentences.

As mentioned earlier, the Biden White House has refused to rule out the possibility of the president granting a commutation for his son.

"The White House is not ruling out a potential commutation for Hunter Biden, the president’s son who was convicted on three federal gun crimes and is set to be sentenced by a judge in the coming months," the Associated Press reports.

The outlet goes on to quote White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as saying, when asked about the possibility of a commutation, "As we all know, the sentencing hasn’t even been scheduled yet. He was very clear, very upfront, obviously very definitive. I just don’t have anything beyond that."

It would appear that the White House is going to wait until after it sees what Hunter Biden's sentence is before making a decision about whether the president will or will not commute his son's sentence.